Creighton star Ryan Kalkbrenner joins Patrick Ewing with historic DPOY feat
03/10/2025 11:55 AM
Creighton basketball is gearing up for tournament play and the Big East postseason awards are starting to roll in. While there were a number of awards up for grabs in the conference this season, one of them was never in doubt.
Creighton star Ryan Kalkbrenner won the Big East Defensive Player of the Year in one of the least surprising results that you’ll see, according to college basketball broadcaster John Fanta. Kalkbrenner has now won the award in four consecutive years, matching Hall-of-Famer Patrick Ewing for the most in the history of the conference. Ewing won the award at Georgetown each year from 1982-85.
Kalkbrenner has been one of the best, if not the best shot blocker in the country during the entirety of his career with the Bluejays. He has averaged at least two blocks per game in each of the last four seasons and notched 2.7 rejections a night this season.
While the blocks are great, Kalkbrenner’s greatest asset as a defender is his ability to stay out of foul trouble. Despite playing nearly 34 minutes per game for Creighton, the big man hasn’t fouled out of a single game this season and has only even been called for four fouls three times in 30 games.
The streak stretches even longer than just this season. Kalkbrenner has NEVER fouled out in 164 college games. Never!! As a high-minute rim protector, that number is absolutely bonkers and makes him invaluable to a Creighton defense that struggles to contain guards on the perimeter at times. During those 164 games, he has only committed four fouls 12 times.
In addition to his always-elite defense, Kalkbrenner’s offense has taken a massive step forward this season. He is Creighton’s leading scorer at 19.4 points per game and is shooting better than 66% from the field. While most of those looks come from a round the basket, he is 17-for-50 from beyond the arc this season.
Kalkbrenner’s scoring has increased in each of his five seasons in Omaha and has become a true superstar on both ends of the floor in college basketball as a result. Even though Creighton has had to play most of the season without Pop Isaacs, Greg McDermott’s group is still safely in the NCAA Tournament.
Whichever high seed draws this Creighton basketball team in the first weekend will have its hands full, and Kalkbrenner is a massive (literally and figuratively) reason why.
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